With growing congestion, Winnetka retail shops ask Village Council for help

Local business owners are rallying to find solutions for the “ongoing challenges” facing one of Winnetka’s central hubs before another “high-vehicular-traffic business” potentially rides its way into town.

Several representatives of businesses located along or near Lincoln Avenue addressed the Village Council on March 19 with a pair of problems within the district that they say are becoming progressively troublesome.

The impact of major construction projects in the area, most notably the ongoing development of One Winnetka at Lincoln and Elm, as well as persistent parking struggles, are “severely hampering” customers’ willingness to patronize businesses in the immediate area, public commenters argued during the session.

Terry Dason, president of the Winnetka-Northfield-Glencoe Chamber of Commerce, noted that a “small but important group of approximately 10 retail shops” along Lincoln Avenue and Elm Street is getting “increasingly outnumbered” by restaurants and service-based businesses.

Those uses, Dason said, include the new post office location (586 Lincoln Ave.), multiple restaurants, several medical offices, fitness studios, and bank and personal services tenants.

“Retailers have been consistently raising concerns about parking, especially our small shops,” Dason told the council. “During the day, many spaces are occupied for extended periods by restaurants and service-based customers, making it difficult for retail shoppers to find convenient, short-term parking.

“The concern with adding another business that may encourage longer stays is … (that it may) further limit parking access for retail customers.”

The comments were spurred in part by plans that Spynergy, a cycling-based fitness studio that formerly had space in the Hubbard Woods Business District, may be eyeing a location on Lincoln.

Dason questioned if adding another such business near Lincoln and Elm would be the best fit.

“While we absolutely welcome businesses that want to be in Winnetka, especially those with a strong history here, we have to ask if this is the right location for this type of use,” she said.

“I would respectfully ask the council to consider how we can protect and support our remaining retail, whether through thoughtful planning, parking strategies or evaluating the overall mix of businesses on this block, so we don’t unintentionally lose what makes this area unique.”

Deb McMahon, who manages J.McLaughlin, a women’s clothing boutique that’s been on Lincoln for more than 20 years, said she has “witnessed the evolution” of the district.

She added that parking issues will only “continue to escalate” with the potential of another “high-vehicular-traffic business opening on Lincoln.”

“Change happens; however, in the past few years, these changes have been severely hampering my customers’ ability to find parking and therefore visit us and spend with us,” she said.

“I have voiced my concern and my requested parking spaces for quite a while, both in-person to trustees and with emails. To date, I have not heard any possible or discussed assistance to this long-standing Winnetka business.”

Winnetka resident Annette Pecora, who owns The 60s Beauty Lash on Lincoln, also said she was concerned about the amount of cars Spynergy could potentially add to the immediate area.

“I don’t have a problem with the business; I have a problem with the volume they’re going to bring,” Pecora said.

She earlier added that “between construction, people parking backward, sideways and whatever they do on Lincoln Avenue, parking is a problem.”

“When we started it was great. Now, it’s gotten so, so bad. We’re as bad as Glencoe,” she said.

In an atypical gesture that immediately followed the end of public comment, Village President Bob Dearborn addressed the concerns, saying the village is “very aware of the parking issues on Lincoln.”

Additionally, the council signaled it would in the near future also possibly hold a study session on parking to work on a plan forward.

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